87 Jayson’s Fight for life

129 Canine Corner – Our best friends

Jayson’s Fight For Life WORDS BY ANITA BUTTERWORTH | PHOTOS BY DOUG PELL

At the tender age of 19, Jayson Filomeno was dealt a crushing blow. After years of unexplained health struggles, he was diagnosed with cancer. But instead of crumbling, the South Gippslander met his treatment headon, and now having emerged from the other side, is using his story to save the lives of others.

While plenty of teenage boys are keen to ditch school as often as they can, at 16-years-old Jayson Filomeno was a keen student. But he was regularly missing days at Leongatha Secondary College due to constant stomach and back pain. He was plagued by diarrhoea and vomiting, but he soldiered on.

After he graduated from high school, Jayson moved to Melbourne to study business, economics and accounting at university. But his health problems didn’t disappear.

“It started with a bit of knee pain in my left knee,” Jayson explained. “There was knee pain that felt like muscle pain at the beginning and then gradually as weeks and months went on it got worse and worse where it turned into a really sharp, stabbing pain. It became unbearable. Sleeping just didn’t happen.”

Jayson visited several doctors, as the pain continued, and he lost a dramatic amount of weight. He was told to take Panadol to treat the pain, which was becoming intolerable.

By June of 2015, Jayson could no longer function properly. He wasn’t sleeping and he couldn’t concentrate on his studies. “The constant pain caused me to put my studies on hold and move back to Leongatha.”

The teenager was in constant pain, with no amount of pain killers able to dull the aches. As the days went on, the pain radiated from his knee, to his back. He wasn’t eating or hydrating properly, and over two months he lost 30 kilos.

Still doctors were unable to find the source of Jayson’s pain. Then he started developing lumps in his armpits, neck and groin – some growing to the size of golf balls.

Finally, after visiting a medical clinic in Leongatha, a local doctor quickly diagnosed Jayson with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

“It was a shock. I don’t think I processed it straight away. I think I was in a bit of denial, I guess for two or three days, before it really set in that this was a serious problem and I’m probably in for 12 to 18 months of vigorous chemotherapy. It was the last thing that I was thinking I’d be doing at the age of 19.”

It had been an incredibly long road already, full of agonising pain and the frustration of not being able to get a diagnosis. But Jayson admits that nobody was expecting the cause of his ailments to be cancer.

“The doctors weren’t looking for that. They were probably in the same headspace as me. That cancer wouldn’t be the case. That it was just some sort of muscle pain, or I’d torn something in my knee. "

"Probably from beginning to end was maybe 14 months – from beginning of pain to diagnosis.”

After some testing in Melbourne, it was revealed that Jayson’s cancer had reached Stage 4, and he needed to start immediate treatment.

He became the youngest patient to attend the Gippsland Cancer Care Centre.

“I was 19 and everywhere I looked, all around the room they were 75, 80 years-old and beyond. It was definitely a weird experience.”

Jayson realised he was in for the fight of his life, just as his life was beginning. But his outlook was always positive.

“I was probably in one of those headspaces where I was thinking, I’m way too young to die. I was just prepared to do anything I had to in order to survive.

“They say if you’re going to get cancer, it’s the one to get. Survival rate is generally 99%. I wasn’t scared in the sense that I thought I was going to die. I just knew it wouldn’t be an easy 18 months.”

And it wasn’t. Jayson received chemotherapy for nine hours every Wednesday for months to reduce the size of the cancerous lymph nodes. And he admits that being in pain for the previous few months had done nothing to prepare him for his torturous treatment.

But after eight agonising months, Jayson was given the news he had longed for – he was in remission. Six years later and Jayson remains cancer-free. Now the Alex Scott & Staff Property Manager is using his experience to raise awareness of lymphoma.

“For that one person who is sitting at home that may be going through some sort of pain and has not been going to the doctors, to read this article and go, ‘You know what, I might just go to the doctor and get looked at’. If I can help one person that gets that diagnosis and can survive in the long run, then all of this is worth it.”

In September Jayson organised a morning tea on World Lymphoma Awareness Day to raise funds for Lymphoma Australia’s ongoing research. The event raised an incredible $6717.70.

“If it wasn’t for the research and development that they’ve done 10 years ago and come up with this treatment plan which in turn helped me, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Jayson is planning on making it an annual event, to keep raising awareness of lymphoma. He continues to undergo three monthly scans and performs daily checks on himself – and he’s urging others to listen to their bodies and push for answers if something doesn’t feel right.

“You know your body better than anyone. If you go to the doctor and you believe that what they’re telling you is not the correct thing, get a second opinion. It could be life or death.”